GM India lines up LPG and CNG versions of Spark and Aveo for CY 2009Discerning the burgeoning demand for cars that run on alternate fuel like Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), a number of car companies like GM, Hyundai, etc, Fiat S.p.A. are in the process of launching an array of models in such segments shortly. General Motors India has also kept its fingers crossed on the CNG and LPG variants of Chevrolet Spark; Chevrolet Aveo U-VA; and Chevrolet Aveo. According to industry sources, Chevrolet Spark with the LPG version is touted to be the first amongst the three models to hit the Indian roads. The CNG variant of the Chevrolet Optra is already being offered in Mumbai, Delhi and Vadodara, largely due to the fact that the fuel is available in these cities.

Our strategy is to have high fuel efficiency in all our vehicles in the first place. Then we will be introducing vehicles powered by (alternative) fuels like CNG and LPG, besides having different power-trains and different displacements, General Motors India president (GMI) and managing director Karl Slym was quoted as saying to the mediamen a couple of months back. The company will be launching an LPG-driven car in the first half of this year, without specifying details, adding it would be followed by other LPG vehicles.

General Motors (GM) India has no plans of bringing the Cadillac to the country anytime soon, thus refuting media reports that it was going to bring the marquee brand to India sometime this year.


Buck